Apple TV adds Major League Soccer, Disney Junior

A couple of new channels have been added to the Apple TV - you can now watch Major League Soccer (MLS) games and highlights, as well as content from Disney Junior - Disney's network aimed at younger viewers.

All viewers of the MLS channel get free on-demand video highlights, analysis, fantasy soccer advice and player profiles. Full episodes of MLS 36 and MLS Insider are also provided, along with videos created by individual MLS clubs. You'll need an MLS Live subscription - $14.99 per month - for live streaming and archived games.

Disney Junior is squarely aimed at the preschool and elementary school set, with programming for kids ages 3-9. Kids can watch episodes of Handy Manny, Octonauts, Special Agent Oso and more. As with other Disney channels, access is restricted to cable and dish subscribers who can verify their identity using a verification system that launches before the channel is unlocked.

Are either of these channels interesting for you? Would you prefer to see something else? Let me know in the comments.

Or if one does not want to go through the steps to hide things, they can also be re-arranged... everything but the top row default icons... push/hold the select button on the remote until wiggle mode kicks in, then use arrow keys to move... hit the select button to drop it where you moved it to...

I think it's awesome that Apple can push new channels our way without having to flash the device ourselves. And as others have said, it's easy enough to turn off what we don't want. I love the variety, and hope they keep it coming!

Hand pick in what sense? I am still able to hand pick which channels I want to see. I hope you're not sitting around and awaiting something to update, especially if you consider the updates arbitrary. Doesn't seem like a good use of time. :-)

Still waiting for Amazon Instant. That would complete it for me for the time being. I've been using airplay since the app was updated to allow airplay but it would be a lot better if it just had it's own app.

Also having standalone ABC, NBC and CBS apps would be pretty sweet as well.

The MLS stuff looks nice. I'm glad to see that Apple is avoiding the "Not Invented Here" syndrome and allowing other content providers in. I still like to leverage iTunes content for it's wide reach across my devices but choice is good. Co-sign the Amazon support. That would be awesome.

The thing that blows my mind right in front of my face about the Disney channels on the Apple TV is this...
If my family is already paying for the Disney channels via their cable/TV service, wherein we turn on the TV and tune into the channel(s), why would anyone want to turn on the TV, turn on the Apple TV, and then go to the Disney channel. (I think this works well enough for access to the Disney Channels via an iOS device.) It seems the same as having a Netflix ready TV, which we do. We don't turn on our TV and Apple TV to access our Netflix shows... We just turn on our TV and then access Netflix.

Now, if the Disney channels were available for a monthly/annual fee independent of TV service provider options that would be more interesting. The problem I foresee with this scenario is this - if every channel charged $7 (min) a month and anyone wanted to subscribe to many of them, then how would that be any better [less expensive] than just subscribing to a monthly service plan from, let's say, AT&T?